HBO Apps Added 1.7 Million New Mobile Users for Game of Thrones Season 8

Key insights

5 takeaways

01
HBO mobile apps (HBO NOW and HBO GO) recorded 1.7 million new installs during the premiere week of Game of Thrones season eight, a 32% increase over the 1.29 million installs seen during the season seven premiere.
02
The HBO NOW subscription app saw 750,000 first-time installs between April 13 and April 20, 2019, marking the network's largest week for new users to date.
03
HBO NOW's premiere week performance represented a 230% increase in new installs compared to the preceding seven-day period and a 15% increase over its own season seven premiere performance.
04
HBO GO, the network's 'TV everywhere' app, added 960,000 new users during the season eight premiere week, a 50% increase compared to the 640,000 installs recorded during the season seven premiere.
05
Total combined mobile installs for HBO apps grew by 199% week-over-week, rising from 578,000 in the week prior to the season eight premiere to 1.7 million during the premiere week.

Summary

The final season of the television series Game of Thrones served as a significant catalyst for mobile user acquisition across HBO’s streaming platforms. During the premiere week of the show's eighth season in April 2019, HBO NOW and HBO GO recorded a combined 1.7 million new mobile installs. This figure represents a 32 percent increase compared to the premiere week of the show's seventh season in 2017, highlighting the sustained and growing impact of high-profile content on mobile application adoption.

The data, derived from Store Intelligence metrics across the Apple App Store and Google Play, indicates that the surge was particularly pronounced for the subscription-based HBO NOW app. Between April 13 and April 20, 2019, HBO NOW saw 750,000 first-time installs, marking a 230 percent increase over the preceding week and a 15 percent rise over the comparable period during the seventh season. Simultaneously, the HBO GO "TV everywhere" application experienced a 50 percent growth in first-time downloads compared to the previous season's premiere, reaching 960,000 new users.

These findings underscore the effectiveness of tentpole programming in driving substantial, short-term spikes in mobile engagement. The week-over-week growth for the combined platforms reached 199 percent, nearly tripling the install volume from the seven days prior to the season eight debut. This analysis confirms that major media events continue to be a primary driver for expanding the mobile user base of streaming services, with each successive season of the franchise yielding higher acquisition numbers than the last.